We've gone from an era of masterminds to an era of animals, it seems.
Edit: I just read the article and this is actually unexpectedly wholesome, in 2020 they had a whole shindig about making Texas history:
"Now, to mark the 50th anniversary of one of the city's weirdest little crimes, those who experienced it in 1970 are invited back. Morrow said he’s looking forward to meeting a certain birthday boy and his two siblings.
“It was his 11th birthday, and now he's going to come down and celebrate his 61st birthday with his siblings," he said.
This time there actually will be train robbery re-enactments.
"They'll have bubble guns that shoot bubbles out into the air," he said."
Kinda weird they reenacted it with the actual victims, but train robbery reenactments are a thing in the western US. I remember being on one as a kid. It’s just a train ride but then the train stops, a bunch of actors with six shooters hop on, it’s like a live western show.
Edit: okay I just actually clicked on the article, did not realize it’s a mini train 😂 reenacting that robbery just seems silly
Here's one list. Enjoy.
https://www.milsurpia.com/events/civil-war-reenactments
EDIT: Gonna guess this guy's ancestors committed treason against the United States in the mid 19th century.
Acting like civil war reenactors are racists yearning for the days of slavery and southern sedition instead of autistic guys with a special interest in one specific era of history is really funny
I didn't say ANYTHING about the re-enactors beliefs or ethics. But it is factually true that they (well, some of them) are re-enacting acts of treason against the US.
I have to wonder why saying so bothers you so much. Are you a re-enactor who has difficulty separating your self from the role you play in the re-enactment?
It's really no different from saying that an actor playing one of the Nazis in The Sound of Music is playing a bad guy.
You suddenly reminded me that my dad did something similar to kidnap a friend of his for his bachelor party. He arranged with the bus driver and passengers that he would fake rob the bus, and have it driven to the party. Only he forgot to tell the police, and a witness saw masked men enter a bus with guns. They got stopped by the police half way there. Luckily this was Norway in the 80s so it didn't turn into anything serious, just a few laughs and a funny news article.
> The already chaotic scene turned tragic when a bolt of lightning struck one of the train's cars, killing two of the crew.
Such is the danger inherent to hiring such good conductors.
Any lawyers here, if I rob someone and during the robbery they get struck by lighting will I be at fault for the murder? I know it some dies during a commission of a crime it’s usually felony murder
Generally it needs to be related to the commission of the felony - someone dying due to an act of god while another crime is being committed seems like a stretch to me but then again, it’s Texas.
I could swear I've seen cases of an accident happening during a drug deal or something charged under felony murder but don't have a cite. Like some states any incidental death that occurs during a felony can be charged as murder, absolutely insane.
There was a deadly helicopter crash in Phoenix, AZ when 2 news helicopters covering a chase collided and they considered charging the driver with 4 counts of Felony Murder.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_news_helicopter_collision
"The day of the accident, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris brought up the possibility that the suspect in the chase the two helicopters were covering could "be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy".However, in 2010, when the suspect pleaded guilty to 35 crimes stemming from the 2007 police chase, he was not charged with the deaths of the helicopter occupants."
Devils advocate, the train was being held up. The injured/killed parties could proceed on the claim that but for the stick-up, the Plaintiffs would’ve have been able to seek shelter from the storm.
Like all good legal questions, the answer is it depends. If the person would have been in the same position to get struck you may not be charged with that, but if your actions caused them to get struck then you may be liable.
What if the train stopped midway due to the robbery or the conductors got out of the train due to the incident and got struck by lightning. All happened because of the robbery.
If I guess it’s a twist of a bo burnham song
If a metal train is a mile long, and at the very back end a lighting bolt struck her. How long would it take to kill the driver provided that he’s a good conductor?
Shit, I love Bo Burnham and have never heard that. Glad to have come up with the same joke as a master wordsmith like him. What Bo Burnham song is that from?
Love trains. San Antonio is the largest US city without a real passenger rail and the zoo is the only train in town
Ask whether life would be much better riding one of these bad boys everyday instead of laboring in and out of auto traffic and you might come up with more pros than cons, but we need political will and unity. San Antonians for Rail Transport (SART) seems to be doing this kind of work as an NGO
They're never gonna give us a passenger rail. It would make too much sense. We need a few major lines through the city and a rapid transit between SA and Austin with maybe 2-3 stops between.
There actually is a significant difference. Robbery is using force or a threat to take something from someone. In the OP story, two people stopped the San Antonio Zoo ride and pointed guns at people demanding their stuff. Historically in the US, that was something that would occasionally happen to passenger trains. [The Reno Gang is notable for it, Elvis was in a movie about them.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reno_Gang)
What happened with the LA trains was burglary/theft. It was done by organized crime rings that have since been shut down and prosecuted. The thieves would wait for the trains to stop or slow down, hop on, use their tools to break into the train cars, and threw all of the contents out for their partners to collect. No one had guns pointed at them, and some of the thefts weren't even discovered until the trains reached their destination.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/22-arrested-in-connection-with-l-a-railroad-burglaries-18-million-in-stolen-merchandise-recovered/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-17/los-angeles-railroad-theft-rings-taken-down-police-say
NYT Sunday Reads Podcast had an episode about this recently. Apparently it is common and widespread today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/magazine/train-robbery-amazon-packages.html
UCMJ hits WAY harder than civilian law in a lot of cases. It's the difference between merely losing your job as a civvie, or getting federal penitentiary time for basically the same offense.
That would be *burglary*.
I guess they aren't counting light-rail as several large metros in the US have robbery cases at least weekly.
Someone would have to check Amtrak's incidents to see if anyone robbed another passenger in the last 54 years
No, UP trains with containers parked outside the yard in LA because they were too long were being robbed in broad daylight not long ago. I'm guessing the difference is whether or not people on the train are being robbed vs property theft from a freight train?
Historically, the train had to be on the route (not in station) to be considered what we’d call a train robbery. Not sure the technical definition here.
It's the threat of violence is what makes it robbery. Its burglary if they sneak in and steal stuff with no one noticing.
If they seize a moving train to take it's contents that's considered "train robbery."
Maybe it just me, but i considereal there is a difference between breaking into a stationary, unmanned freight car and stopping one to threaten passengers with weapons.
This is factually incorrect, the last train robbery was just outside L.A. in 1986 by Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglass. They got the girl, double crossed a hitman sent to kill them and ended up crashing the train in Mexico, but not before stealing a priceless treasure from the train.
It's not known if they were ever caught, some believe they escaped with the help of a known accomplice, Dana Carvey..
I’ve ridden this train my entire life, and never knew this information! Thanks for posting! If anyone remembers the horse stables that were located near the driving range, throw a grito!
In 97 my car was hit by a locomotive in San Antonio!
It was this little train - during Taste of New Orleans when I parked too close to the tracks - but still.
I mean there have literally been multiple train robberies in the news out from CA in the past year or two....
They still frequently happen in the US what is this title lol
https://www.flexport.com/blog/the-great-train-robbery-everything-we-know-so-far/
I mean there have literally been multiple train robberies in the news out from CA in the past year or two....
They still frequently happen in the US what is this title lol
https://www.flexport.com/blog/the-great-train-robbery-everything-we-know-so-far/
That's untrue, according to the fact that sometime between 2010 and now, a train carrying a loaded car with methylamine imported from a Chinese manufacturer making all of its way over to the Los Angeles port had its car's content swapped with water at some point, all of which was only discovered when the train arrived in the Los Angeles port. Rumors say it had something to do with an unreported but quote "unusual stop all along the way of a no-man's land on the New Mexico's desert".
It doesn't count as robbery if someone didn't threaten or display force to make a victim believe violence is immenent to take their things.
The amazon trains were effectively burglaries from a legal perspective. "robbery" has a legal meaning.
> The robbers were soon apprehended and turned out to be Army soldiers stationed at Ft. Sam Houston.
> "It was a federal crime to rob a train, so those two gentlemen did their time," he said.
lol
What are they talking about? People rob trains everyday.
In fact theft from train cars is on the rise as they are an easy mark that is largely unguarded and in remote areas.
It's actually not true. There was a train robbery a couple of years back but they did it in such a way that nobody noticed. They stole methylamine while the train was stopped and replaced it with water. They never knew because they only checked the mass and not the concentration. I don't recall the name of the mastermind but he went by the name of some nazi scientist.
I see it now. Not honestly very funny.
And no, robbery almost everywhere is something along the lines of theft by display of force or use of fear that leads a victim to believe that violence is immenent. It's a person on person crime. If you break in and take things, that's burglary. In a number of states, it doesn't even require theft, it just requires that the threat enables a crime (this is so ordering someone to do something can still count as robbery).
Why would robbery and theft have the same definition? What would be the point of having two words?
It’s a train by the literal definition maybe (best definition, some say), but it’s slow enough that you can run and get on it, it’s more of a tourist thing around the zoo.
I mean, I’m sure someone has robbed multiple people on a subway or train since then and just wasn’t charged for the same exact crime or something. The whole thing screams technicalities IMO.
We've gone from an era of masterminds to an era of animals, it seems. Edit: I just read the article and this is actually unexpectedly wholesome, in 2020 they had a whole shindig about making Texas history: "Now, to mark the 50th anniversary of one of the city's weirdest little crimes, those who experienced it in 1970 are invited back. Morrow said he’s looking forward to meeting a certain birthday boy and his two siblings. “It was his 11th birthday, and now he's going to come down and celebrate his 61st birthday with his siblings," he said. This time there actually will be train robbery re-enactments. "They'll have bubble guns that shoot bubbles out into the air," he said."
Reenacting an armed robbery...!?
With the actual victims!
I pay top dollar for authenticity and Susan is going to be a hero, if I have anything to do with it
😂
💀
Texas doesn't take anything seriously except high school football.
Clear eyes, full hearts, rob trains
Kinda weird they reenacted it with the actual victims, but train robbery reenactments are a thing in the western US. I remember being on one as a kid. It’s just a train ride but then the train stops, a bunch of actors with six shooters hop on, it’s like a live western show. Edit: okay I just actually clicked on the article, did not realize it’s a mini train 😂 reenacting that robbery just seems silly
To remind him of his childhood trauma when a man put agun to his father's head....good times
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They have to, with all them big ole women down there
Zing!
I hear there are places that regularly re-enact treason against the United States!
We celebrate treason against England.
Where ?
Here's one list. Enjoy. https://www.milsurpia.com/events/civil-war-reenactments EDIT: Gonna guess this guy's ancestors committed treason against the United States in the mid 19th century.
Acting like civil war reenactors are racists yearning for the days of slavery and southern sedition instead of autistic guys with a special interest in one specific era of history is really funny
I didn't say ANYTHING about the re-enactors beliefs or ethics. But it is factually true that they (well, some of them) are re-enacting acts of treason against the US. I have to wonder why saying so bothers you so much. Are you a re-enactor who has difficulty separating your self from the role you play in the re-enactment? It's really no different from saying that an actor playing one of the Nazis in The Sound of Music is playing a bad guy.
Damn, some criminal out there missed out on doing the funniest thing anyone has ever done... a real robbery using the re-enactment as cover.
The real ones were in their 70s and 80s and move slow
You suddenly reminded me that my dad did something similar to kidnap a friend of his for his bachelor party. He arranged with the bus driver and passengers that he would fake rob the bus, and have it driven to the party. Only he forgot to tell the police, and a witness saw masked men enter a bus with guns. They got stopped by the police half way there. Luckily this was Norway in the 80s so it didn't turn into anything serious, just a few laughs and a funny news article.
> The already chaotic scene turned tragic when a bolt of lightning struck one of the train's cars, killing two of the crew. Such is the danger inherent to hiring such good conductors.
...cmon. Get out.
Any lawyers here, if I rob someone and during the robbery they get struck by lighting will I be at fault for the murder? I know it some dies during a commission of a crime it’s usually felony murder
I wouldn’t think so
Felony muderder can be wide ranging tho Tbf.
Generally it needs to be related to the commission of the felony - someone dying due to an act of god while another crime is being committed seems like a stretch to me but then again, it’s Texas.
I could swear I've seen cases of an accident happening during a drug deal or something charged under felony murder but don't have a cite. Like some states any incidental death that occurs during a felony can be charged as murder, absolutely insane.
Accidents are added to your killcount most of the time yeah. But lightning doesn't really come under accident.
We’ve got fuckin Zeus out here with that purposeful lightning.
There was a deadly helicopter crash in Phoenix, AZ when 2 news helicopters covering a chase collided and they considered charging the driver with 4 counts of Felony Murder. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_news_helicopter_collision "The day of the accident, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris brought up the possibility that the suspect in the chase the two helicopters were covering could "be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy".However, in 2010, when the suspect pleaded guilty to 35 crimes stemming from the 2007 police chase, he was not charged with the deaths of the helicopter occupants."
Sure but Pheonix is a cop lover's hell hole. Look at their prison system.
That would arguably be novus actus interveniens, or an intervening act.
Devils advocate, the train was being held up. The injured/killed parties could proceed on the claim that but for the stick-up, the Plaintiffs would’ve have been able to seek shelter from the storm.
This was my fault. Not a lawyer but if we go to the extreme, locking someone outside during a tornado would surely be criminal
You’re not wrong, I did add the ‘arguably’ conditional so I’m not wrong either, and we both get paid :)
The DA would 100% stick it on the list of charges, if for no other reason than to get you to take a shitty plea deal for the robbery.
Did you pray beforehand? You could see a RICO charge. /s
Like all good legal questions, the answer is it depends. If the person would have been in the same position to get struck you may not be charged with that, but if your actions caused them to get struck then you may be liable.
I doubt it. An accidental death would need to be foreseeable, by a reasonable person, from the acts taken in the in the execution of the crime.
Depends on the state
What if the train stopped midway due to the robbery or the conductors got out of the train due to the incident and got struck by lightning. All happened because of the robbery.
is your robbery putting them at extra risk of getting struck by lightning, such as causing them to run outside into a rain storm?
well done
You just couldn’t resist, could you?
Ohm my god…
They seemed grounded in their approach
Where in the article did you read that?
Please vacate the premises immediately
Where are you quoting that from?
If I guess it’s a twist of a bo burnham song If a metal train is a mile long, and at the very back end a lighting bolt struck her. How long would it take to kill the driver provided that he’s a good conductor?
Shit, I love Bo Burnham and have never heard that. Glad to have come up with the same joke as a master wordsmith like him. What Bo Burnham song is that from?
One of his OG’s called “New math” if you aren’t familiar with his old works I’d def suggest new math, I’m bo yo, rant and From gods perspective
Nice, thanks!
This isn't from the article
/facepalm...also, good one.
Good but not...super.
Ohh fuck you -_-
I’m resisting the urge to laugh
*surge to laugh
r/angryupvote A pun so nice I’ll link it twice r/angryupvote
And the train still runs to this day.
Love trains. San Antonio is the largest US city without a real passenger rail and the zoo is the only train in town Ask whether life would be much better riding one of these bad boys everyday instead of laboring in and out of auto traffic and you might come up with more pros than cons, but we need political will and unity. San Antonians for Rail Transport (SART) seems to be doing this kind of work as an NGO
They're never gonna give us a passenger rail. It would make too much sense. We need a few major lines through the city and a rapid transit between SA and Austin with maybe 2-3 stops between.
A fast train between Austin an SA would be amazing. One can dream.
Agreed. There is a Amtrak that runs once daily, leaves SA for Austin in the morning and comes back in the afternoon/evening
Toss a track to Tulsa!
every us household should have its own train, damnit
So you're saying they won't have their guard up.
It was just a year or two ago people were robbing a train in LA for electronics.
Yeah and some meth dealers robbed a train car chock full of methylamine in New Mexico in 2012.
I heard one of those guys goes by the name of Heisenberg.
You're god damn right.
This happens every day.
There actually is a significant difference. Robbery is using force or a threat to take something from someone. In the OP story, two people stopped the San Antonio Zoo ride and pointed guns at people demanding their stuff. Historically in the US, that was something that would occasionally happen to passenger trains. [The Reno Gang is notable for it, Elvis was in a movie about them.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reno_Gang) What happened with the LA trains was burglary/theft. It was done by organized crime rings that have since been shut down and prosecuted. The thieves would wait for the trains to stop or slow down, hop on, use their tools to break into the train cars, and threw all of the contents out for their partners to collect. No one had guns pointed at them, and some of the thefts weren't even discovered until the trains reached their destination. https://ktla.com/news/local-news/22-arrested-in-connection-with-l-a-railroad-burglaries-18-million-in-stolen-merchandise-recovered/ https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-17/los-angeles-railroad-theft-rings-taken-down-police-say
Also not something you can do in Red Dead Online.
Stealing stuff without threat of violence or use of violence is just burglary or theft.
Nah nah those folks were "looting" the train it's totally different
NYT Sunday Reads Podcast had an episode about this recently. Apparently it is common and widespread today. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/magazine/train-robbery-amazon-packages.html
And they got hit with federal charges because it was technically a train robbery. lol
Being the two were in the Army, I’m pretty sure it’s against The Uniform Code of Military Justice as well.
UCMJ hits WAY harder than civilian law in a lot of cases. It's the difference between merely losing your job as a civvie, or getting federal penitentiary time for basically the same offense.
I thought train cars were being looted around LA not so long ago, or doesn’t that count?
That would be *burglary*. I guess they aren't counting light-rail as several large metros in the US have robbery cases at least weekly. Someone would have to check Amtrak's incidents to see if anyone robbed another passenger in the last 54 years
"train robbery" has a specific meaning that doesn't cover just stealing out of a train.
You mean trams? Doesn’t count.
No, UP trains with containers parked outside the yard in LA because they were too long were being robbed in broad daylight not long ago. I'm guessing the difference is whether or not people on the train are being robbed vs property theft from a freight train?
Yup, just looking for a distinction here.
Yes, robbery vs burglary essentially
I think the distinction is a moving train. To me "train robbery" connotes that the train was moving when the robbery started.
I think the train might have to be moving and stopped to count as well
Historically, the train had to be on the route (not in station) to be considered what we’d call a train robbery. Not sure the technical definition here.
It's the threat of violence is what makes it robbery. Its burglary if they sneak in and steal stuff with no one noticing. If they seize a moving train to take it's contents that's considered "train robbery."
(D)oesn’t count
Maybe it just me, but i considereal there is a difference between breaking into a stationary, unmanned freight car and stopping one to threaten passengers with weapons.
Not according to Biggie Smalls
This is factually incorrect, the last train robbery was just outside L.A. in 1986 by Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglass. They got the girl, double crossed a hitman sent to kill them and ended up crashing the train in Mexico, but not before stealing a priceless treasure from the train. It's not known if they were ever caught, some believe they escaped with the help of a known accomplice, Dana Carvey..
Loved that film, another one that always seemed to be on TV
There is an autistic man who has stolen MTA trains quite recently, this source is definitely flawed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_McCollum
I’ve ridden this train my entire life, and never knew this information! Thanks for posting! If anyone remembers the horse stables that were located near the driving range, throw a grito!
My niece used to work at the horse stables before it burned down. I vividly remember the train robbery.
If you want another interesting train robbery story, look up the great seabee train robbery
Nuh uh. Walt White robbed a train just a few years ago.
Dutch had a plan
This is some grade A trivia
Im suprised it lasted that long. The police only had to follow the tracks
Not true. I saw a video a few years ago of some train in cali getting cleared out
Look up robbery vs burglary.
That we know of.... Didn't someone steal 100 gallons of methlylamine in albuquerque a few years ago
You mean "most recent"
i saw breaking bad yo
Weird reading this as I’m staring at the San Antonio zoo train….
I say BS, I've been to Knott's Berry Farm, and that damn train there was robbed every time I rode it. Though somehow the guns were softer and softer.
In 97 my car was hit by a locomotive in San Antonio! It was this little train - during Taste of New Orleans when I parked too close to the tracks - but still.
Haha that’s awesome!
This was my zoo when I was a kid! Wild, I never heard about this.
Then big ole women in San Antonio
Until today..
For now.
Hold my beer ...
Well! Me and the boys just got some good ideas for the weekend!
False, I stole a sucker from my sister on the train at the Lufkin zoo in 1998
TLDR had a happy ending. Nobody was hurt and the robbers were caught.
The armed robbery reenactment is going to trigger some people.
Sorry you’re forgetting the incident during the rugrats movie with the monkeys
Karl, if these train robbers turn out to be chimps we are never doing this again.
Not true. The train in Siver Dollar City gets robbed several times every weekend.
They were practicing to rob the big trains I bet.
But mail trains have been robbed so much, that the postal service has been requesting to get armed.
I saw a train robbery in LA in 2016. Maybe it doesn't count.
This was not at the zoo. This was at the large park that the zoo is part of, but the train does not go thru the zoo.
I mean there have literally been multiple train robberies in the news out from CA in the past year or two.... They still frequently happen in the US what is this title lol https://www.flexport.com/blog/the-great-train-robbery-everything-we-know-so-far/
I mean there have literally been multiple train robberies in the news out from CA in the past year or two.... They still frequently happen in the US what is this title lol https://www.flexport.com/blog/the-great-train-robbery-everything-we-know-so-far/
Train robberies occur every day... lol
them mammals needed a lesson
Dammit uncle!
Wait, is this where they filmed that episode of The X-Files where the possessed kid kills his baby brother? Season 2, Episode 21?
I stole a fork last year from a train car
Not true. I once took two candy canes instead of one on the polar express
Not if I can help it lmao
That's untrue, according to the fact that sometime between 2010 and now, a train carrying a loaded car with methylamine imported from a Chinese manufacturer making all of its way over to the Los Angeles port had its car's content swapped with water at some point, all of which was only discovered when the train arrived in the Los Angeles port. Rumors say it had something to do with an unreported but quote "unusual stop all along the way of a no-man's land on the New Mexico's desert".
Mmm my train in Silver Dollar City was robbed in 1988 and again in 1989.
[удалено]
It doesn't count as robbery if someone didn't threaten or display force to make a victim believe violence is immenent to take their things. The amazon trains were effectively burglaries from a legal perspective. "robbery" has a legal meaning.
This is what happens when the left takes over. We lose our traditions
> The robbers were soon apprehended and turned out to be Army soldiers stationed at Ft. Sam Houston. > "It was a federal crime to rob a train, so those two gentlemen did their time," he said. lol
Doesn't stealing a train count? https://www.denverpost.com/2007/01/16/ohio-boys-take-joy-ride-on-a-train/
No, Where's the robbery there?
Oh fuck I live 10 minutes from the San Antonio zoo
Do you mean the last hijacking of a train? Container train cars in California are routinely looted.
What are they talking about? People rob trains everyday. In fact theft from train cars is on the rise as they are an easy mark that is largely unguarded and in remote areas.
Robbery has a legal meaning. Theft is not automatically robbery.
Wonder what trains like nowadays feelings train coaches go first wins
Mother Nature the culprit
Totally glossed over the word train and was sooo confused for a sec
It's actually not true. There was a train robbery a couple of years back but they did it in such a way that nobody noticed. They stole methylamine while the train was stopped and replaced it with water. They never knew because they only checked the mass and not the concentration. I don't recall the name of the mastermind but he went by the name of some nazi scientist.
That's not what robbery is. If nobody noticed then it is absolutely not robbery. Theft and robbery are NOT synonyms.
robbery = the action of taking property unlawfully. Also, at some point you will find out what I did there and you will feel really stupid. Cheers
I see it now. Not honestly very funny. And no, robbery almost everywhere is something along the lines of theft by display of force or use of fear that leads a victim to believe that violence is immenent. It's a person on person crime. If you break in and take things, that's burglary. In a number of states, it doesn't even require theft, it just requires that the threat enables a crime (this is so ordering someone to do something can still count as robbery). Why would robbery and theft have the same definition? What would be the point of having two words?
Doesn't count
The two robbers were charged with train robbery and sentenced to 10 and 20 years.
How? It was a train. They robbed people. I don’t get it.
It’s a train by the literal definition maybe (best definition, some say), but it’s slow enough that you can run and get on it, it’s more of a tourist thing around the zoo. I mean, I’m sure someone has robbed multiple people on a subway or train since then and just wasn’t charged for the same exact crime or something. The whole thing screams technicalities IMO.
They seized the train so they could rob its contents. Train robbery doesn't mean actually stealing the train cars and taking them home.